MILWAUKEE, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual's strong financial and sales performance in 2012 has helped the company move up two positions on the FORTUNE® 500 list to a ranking of No. 114. The annual FORTUNE ® 500 list ranks all U.S. companies by year-end revenue. The full 2013 list appears in FORTUNE®'s May issue.

"We attribute our annual revenue, like all of our financial results, to the long-term value we deliver to policyowners, as well as the relationships our financial representatives form with those policyowners. Our ranking in the Fortune 500 belongs to all of them," said Chairman and CEO John Schlifske.

Financial Strength: Record-Breaking 2012

In 2012, Northwestern Mutual set a new annual record for the number of insurance policies purchased. Including life, disability income and long-term care, policies purchased were up 13 percent over 2011 and represented the most purchased in any year in company history.

The company's combined 2012 new premium sales for life, disability income and long-term care insurance totaled $1.03 billion1, up 11 percent over 2011. Annuity sales also increased 11 percent to a record $1.7 billion1.

As a mutual insurance company, Northwestern Mutual's financial objective is to pay the highest possible dividends to its policyowners and maintain its financial strength. The company's total dividend payments are expected to exceed $5 billion in 2013 – the most in the company's history and approximately three times the ordinary life insurance dividends of its nearest competitor.

In addition, Northwestern Mutual continues to hold the highest financial strength ratings awarded to any life insurer by all four of the major credit rating agencies: A.M. Best Company, A++ (highest) April 2013; Fitch Ratings, AAA (highest), December 2012; Moody's Investors Service Aaa (highest), December 2012; and Standard & Poor's AA+ (second highest), June 2012.2

About Northwestern MutualNorthwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI, and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual is among the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2013 according to FORTUNE® magazine and has helped clients achieve financial security for more than 156 years.

As a mutual company with $1.4 trillion of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual has no shareholders. The company focuses solely and directly on its clients and seeks to deliver consistent and dependable value to them over time.

1Annualized new sales figures reported here count premiums for life insurance policies paid for with a single premium at 10 percent. This is a common industry convention to put sales of single premium policies on a comparable basis to annual premium policies.

2 Third-party ratings are subject to change.

SOURCE Northwestern Mutual

John Gardner, +1-800-323-7033, mediarelations@northwesternmutual.com

5/7/2013 4:00:00 PM

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Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries. Life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits are issued by The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (NM). Long-term care insurance is issued by Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI, (NLTC) a subsidiary of NM. Securities and investment advisory programs are offered through Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, (NMIS) a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC. Investment management, trust services, and fee-based planning are offered through Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC), Milwaukee, WI, a subsidiary of NM and limited purpose federal savings bank. Products and services referenced are offered and sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial professionals. Not all products and services are available in all states.